2. Introduction
The Major Projects Delivery team was established in 2006 and combined Major and
Special Projects with the Capital Projects Team within Property Group, under the legacy
Auckland City Council.
Since its inception the Major Projects Delivery team has been delivering a diverse range of
projects across council from aquatic centres, libraries, art galleries, seismic upgrades,
town squares and key community assets.
This close knit team of experts has delivered key outcomes for council that have
transformed neighbourhoods and community spaces providing added value to the
ratepayers of Auckland far in excess of expectations. This solid team possesses a diverse
range of technical skills and experience across their project management careers and
adds to the credibility of the services we deliver council wide.
The team serves the project management community council wide, meaning we deliver
projects across CCO’s for the greater Auckland.
The team is recognised by the peers in the industry through the consistent number of
awards won on an annual basis ranging from architectural quality, to technical engineering
and project management (see Page 9 for an overview of our recognition by the industry).
Following a number of restructures and Reshape the team now looks forward to serving a
far broader project management community, realising our vision to the be the world’s
most liveable city.
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3. What we do
The Major Projects Delivery Team delivers capital projects varying in size. These builds
are a combination of new builds and upgrades of existing council assets, ranging in size,
complexity, risk and value.
Over the past decade, the team have delivered projects valued at close to one billion in
capex delivery to the Auckland community. A significant number of these projects were
delivered with external funding, enabling these much needed projects to be completed.
The team provide essential and diverse skills in all aspects of project management,
delivering on all facets of the project from concept through to project close out. The
project management team offers a broad range of services including:
1. Management of project team
2. Strategic management of projects
3. Initiating and scoping projects, including feasibility studies
4. Developing design briefs, appointing the design team and managing the overall
design process
5. Managing project financials and project budget
6. Managing communication and stakeholder engagement
7. Sourcing and administering the appropriate project-specific contracts (consultants
and builders)
8. Identifying and procuring the resources required to deliver
9. Planning and scheduling the project
10.Proactively managing project risk
11.Monitoring and reporting on performance and project milestones
12.Fostering best practice in health & safety and sustainability
13.Ensuring quality assurance and project management tools are applied across the
project
14.Developing legal and contract documentation
15.Manage legal issues on projects
16.Managing the construction phase to final completion
17.Managing handover and close out activities
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4. Some of our flagship projects include:
• Auckland Art Gallery
• Aotea Square Redevelopment
• Auckland Zoo – Te Wao Nui
• Devonport Library
• Te Atatu Library and Community Centre
• Ranui Library
• Waiheke Library and Courtyard
• Glen Innes Music and Arts Centre
• ASB Theatre
• Otahuhu Library and Aquatic Centre
• Seismic strengthening and upgrade of Lopdell House
• Lopdell Precinct Redevelopment Project
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5. Since these projects have been completed, our urban environment has become more
vibrant and energised, attracting more people, transforming neighbourhoods and
communities and enriching the lives of people. New innovations, building methods and a
cross pollination of various sustainability measures have been carefully included in these
builds where possible, as we focus on reducing our carbon footprint and delivering better
value for less.
This close knit team feel very proud to give back and to add to the continual growth of the
city, in keeping with the Mayor’s vision, “to create the world’s most liveable city.”
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6. The Major Projects Delivery Unit successfully operates a matrix structure as indicated in
Table One below.
Table One: Major Projects Team – Operating Model and Roles
How the Matrix Structure works
The matrix structure is multi-dimensional and dynamic. The project manager receives a
project indicated under “projects” with the vertical line going down. Across the project the
project manager will need to manage/direct key workstreams and he/she will get
assistance in delivering on these via the dedicated work stream leaders across a number
of disciplines shown under the Work stream Manager above. These dedicated work
stream leaders are subject matter experts in their field, examples include: Health and
Safety, Procurement, Information services etc. Like worker bees they assist the Project
Manager to ensure a level of consistency and quality in that subject area across the
project. The benefit of this is that all projects are delivered consistently, are auditable, and
also include a continuous improvement loop. Each work stream lead has an equivalent
corporate dedicated work stream, who sits within that part of the council business. They
provide a continual information flow back to the project team about changes within that
work stream, how they affect project delivery and any effects this has on project
documentation, templates and process.
The methodology manager co-ordinates this flow of information between the Corporate
Dedicated Work stream to the Work stream leaders, who in turn, work directly with the
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7. project managers to ensure projects are being managed effectively and to project
management requirements.
Benefits of the Matrix structure currently being used by the Major Projects Delivery
Unit
1. The matrix approach will yield a degree of consistency which can be measured,
improved upon and aligned with the organisational standards.
2. The benefits are such that if policies, legislation, regulations, procedures, processes
or documentation changes it can be introduced quickly and consistently into the
methodology, across the whole portfolio of projects being delivered.
3. The matrix approach will allow us to engage with other professional business units
developing a sharing of knowledge with a common language and leverage off their
skills and expertise by utilising designated resources provided i.e. Legal,
Procurement, Health & Safety, Information Services etc. This will enable the
Organisation to set standards which can be consistently implemented across the
unit.
4. There are multiple opportunities for career progression throughout the matrix
approach as the work stream leaders becomes experts in their field.
5. In addition the knowledge transfer from the Major Projects Delivery Unit and other
work streams could be factored in to the Local & Organisational methodology to
promote best practices. This is an important step in the maturity and continuous
improvement of project delivery, giving an organisational, common best practice
approach.
Implementing best practices in project management contributes to sound project
management and provides feedback on how well an organisation is succeeding in meeting
its goals. Some of the other key objectives include the following:
• Business process improvement vs. re-engineering.
• Driving innovation.
• The individual work streams will create further effectiveness and efficiencies by
delivering consistent processes & procedures across the project delivery unit.
• It will enable us to audit our systems to identify non-conformance and remedy.
• To determine and establish procedures which will enable benchmarking and
measurable criteria in order to monitor against agreed targets and improve our
performance.
• To develop and monitor continuous improvement programs, aiming to reduce the
gaps and improve levels of quality.
• The matrix structure provides a multi-dimensional opportunity for professional
development.
• The matrix structure has been proven to be successful as the project management
tool globally.
• This is the most effective tool to use in Project Delivery.
We believe this model which has been applied to the Major Projects Delivery Unit for
almost a decade is the secret ingredient to our success enabling the team to grow,
advance and to a level of project maturity across the project life cycle.
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8. PRO-MAPP
Our successful matrix structure has been developed to provide a pathway for enhanced
project management and delivery. We have process mapped all key work streams
identified within the matrix structure, identifying the activities a project manager must carry
out, with whom, linking these to the documents/templates to be used, during the project life
cycle. This was developed to take the guess work out of many delivery processes, and to
create a robust procedure to be used across all major projects.
The benefits of the matrix structure have become further apparent, as we have pro-actively
worked with our corporate dedicated work stream owners (refer table one on page 6) to
map each of their processes as they relate to major projects. To date, they have approved
each of the steps, activities, and the current corporate forms and templates that should be
used at the appropriate phase of the project.
This information has been programmed into a sophisticated business process
management tool, called Pro-Mapp. Pro-Mapp is a cloud-based process management
software developed to create and store processes online. The project management
processes adopted by Major Projects over the last decade have been programmed into
this system, with consideration given to lean management principles, lessons learnt and
simplifying processes.
The Major Projects Delivery Unit strives for world class excellence in the delivery of their
projects, and the Pro-Mapp system has further enhanced our ability to achieve this. The
system is being continuously improved through collaboration with our business partners
and users, and its widespread benefits are spreading across the council group. Pro-Mapp
has a diverse customer base across many industry sectors including but not limited to:
Financial, Retail, Healthcare, Education and Information Technology.
Promapp allows us to develop business processes in a simple to use way. It captures our institutional
knowledge and provides an online self-help tool for new recruits.
Maritime NZ
Our key challenge was to have the right platform to capture our business processes and to enable
ownership and empowerment - we found it in Promapp.
Villa Maria
Our company is using Promapp initially to gain alignment and customer focused improvements in our
key processes across global manufacturing sites.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances
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9. Our People
We are a close knit team nurturing and supporting one another each step of the way. The
Major Projects Delivery Unit comprises of the best of the best, as you’ll see from Table
One, the Operating Model includes a multitude of roles, and the matrix structure requires
this
diversity to ensure consistency, quality assurance and best practice. It has been proven as
a successful model for delivery across a number of industry’s including car manufacturing
and financial sectors.
The Major Projects Team is managed by the Manager of Major Projects, who has a team
of Senior Project Managers and Project Managers who deliver a range of diverse
community projects across the organisation. As noted in the matrix section the Project
Managers are supported by the Methodology Manager and Work stream leaders to ensure
they are delivering consistently across all work streams. The Corporate Dedicated Work
stream Owners have been seconded to our team to provide this specialist service that
supports the whole team in ensuring best practice is applied across everything we do. For
more information on these roles refer to Appendix A for role descriptions.
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10. Our Reputation
We are proud of all the work we do within the community, and have been fortunate to
receive both national and international recognition for our projects.
Property Council Awards
• Aotea Square Redevelopment – Best in Category - Special Purpose Award
• Auckland Art Gallery – Best in Category - Heritage and Reuses Property Award
• Auckland Art Gallery – Supreme Award
• Tepid Baths - Heritage and Reuses Property Award
• Wellsford Library - Coffey Education and Arts Property Award
• Wellsford Library - Resene Green Building Property Award
• Lopdell Precinct Redevelopment – Heritage and Reuses Property Award
• Lopdell Precinct Redevelopment – Best in Category
• Devonport Library – Best in Category - Coffey Education and Arts Property Award
• Devonport Library – Award of Merit – Green Building Property Award
Project Management Institute Awards
• Public Sector Project Of The Year, Project Manager, Richard Cole, Aotea
Redevelopment $100m
• Tepid Baths Public Sector of the Year. Richard Cole (Project Director)
NZ Institute of Architecture Awards
• Aotea Square Redevelopment Project (Best Urban Design in Public Space).
• Auckland Art Gallery - Best Heritage, Public Sector and Gold award for Best Project
of the year.
• Lopdell House (Best building, Enduring Architecture Category) and Lopdell Gallery
(Best Public Building, Public Architecture Category).
RIBA international Awards
• Auckland Art Gallery - Best Heritage and Public Sector Project
World Architecture Festival (WAF), Singapore
• 2013 World Supreme Winner –Auckland Art Gallery
• 2015 FINALIST, Lopdell (Te Uru) Contemporary Art Gallery
Several other awards for other projects completed by the team include:
Te Wao Nui at Auckland Zoo, Mangere Arts Centre. Devonport Library was the runner
up in the 2015 World Library Awards in South Africa.
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11. Our Projects
Project: Aotea Square Redevelopment Project
Scope: Redevelopment of Aotea Square, Civic car park upgrade, Revitalise Aotea Centre
Façade
Budget: $122m, delivered for $86m
Innovations and Special Features:
• International Leak Detection – an electro-magnetic system installed under Aotea
Square to detect leaks as small as 0.02mm.
• Use of carbon fibre in car park to strengthen car park roof
• Jacked roof of Civic car park to replace non-mechanical bearings. New hydraulic
machinery had to be designed to jack the roof. Memory rubber membrane was
then installed in the void.
• Planning process – the resource consent process was non-notified, with
independent commissioners approving a designation, granting planning permission
for development rights as per the requirements of the project. The outcome resulted
in tremendous time saving for the project programme and enabled the project to be
delivered within the short political timeframe specified.
• Unique concrete mix technically designed especially for the Aotea Square
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12. Project: Auckland Art Gallery
Scope: Revitalise and upgrade section of old heritage Art Gallery, and addition of new
gallery space
Budget: $135m – This was contributed as follows: Legacy Auckland City Council $35m,
Central Government $35m, External funds provided by third parties and charities $65m.
Innovations and Special Features:
• Underpinning of the heritage section of the original Auckland Art Gallery.
• Development of state of the art glass sourced from Germany, with a higher than
usual rate of translucency.
• This eminent building has received international acclaim taking out the Supreme
Award at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore.
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13. Project: Waiheke Library and Courtyard
Scope: Build a new stand-alone library and courtyard space
Budget: $8m
Innovations and Special Features:
• Passive ventilation and multi-faceted energy efficient systems
• Solar panels
• Integrated artworks
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14. Project: Glen Innes Music and Arts Centre
Scope: Build an eminent performing arts centre for the youth of Auckland
Budget: $10m
Innovations and Special Features:
• External roof cladding (use of alucobond for its aesthetic quality).
• Sustainability and energy efficient features including solar panels installed on the
roof
• Unique stakeholder engagement process – to ensure the design brief for the project
provided for the current and future needs of users.
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15. Project: Lopdell Precinct Redevelopment
Scope: Develop a lively performing arts hub in the west of Auckland, including seismic
upgrade and refurbishment of Lopdell House (a heritage building), construction of the new
Art Gallery, build new car park deck and upgrade and refurbishment of the Treasure
House (heritage building).
Budget: $21M
Innovations and Special Features:
• Piling – due to the age of the building a unique piling strategy was required to
achieve the depth needed. Micropiles were used to achieve this within a very
confined space in the building’s basement.
• Shear walls were used to seismically strengthen Lopdell House, building tolerance
for the heritage building in the event of an earthquake and increasing its seismic
rating.
• Procurement strategy - A unique procurement strategy was adopted, a guaranteed
maximum price contract was agreed with the main contractor, this is a form of
agreement with a contractor in which it is agreed that the contract sum will not
exceed a specified maximum. This contract method delivered exceptional value to
council for the budget expended.
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16. Project: ASB Theatre redevelopment
Scope: Redevelopment of the ASB Theatre within Aotea Centre
Budget: $15.4m
Innovations and Special Features:
• Major birdcage scaffold to allow work to safely occur below as construction
continued above.
• Theatre seating design to allow better views for patrons and additional seats
• Acoustics – a state of the art acoustic system was installed that has since received
international recognition
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17. Project: Te Wao Nui – Auckland Zoo
Scope: Development of an existing under-utilised zoo space, creating an area that
acknowledged a ranged of significant NZ wildlife in the one environment.
Budget: $16m
Innovations and Special Features:
The project successfully created an infrastructure and management system for 5
iconic habitats and 175 animal and plant species. It established zones for wetlands,
offshore islands, nocturnal and forest habitats and the South Island high country. It
also delivered refurbished visitor amenities and animal encounter areas, that
developed the Motions Road frontage.
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